


An Abundance of Contingencies

by EnemyMine



Series: Wants, needs and realities [7]
Category: NCIS
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Character Study, Episode: s04e24 Angel of Death, POV Male Character, pre-NCIS:LA
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-23
Updated: 2016-10-23
Packaged: 2018-08-24 07:00:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,881
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8362162
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EnemyMine/pseuds/EnemyMine
Summary: Finally a new permanent Director is found. These are his thoughts following his debriefing.





	

He was used to situational changes at the drop of the hat. No plan ever survived the contact with the enemy after all. That did have to mean that he was happy about his latest orders.

Originally he was supposed to device tactical analysis and prepare response teams for some operation in the Middle East. Mainly Afghanistan and Iraq, maybe the occasional stray visit to Pakistan or Iran without anyone being none the wiser of course. International incidents were highly favored to be prevented at this stage.

Owen Granger has always been a hands on type of guy. He was a highly skilled operative with the best training the Marine Corps had to offer. He preferred the dirt to the desk and never would have thought to have to trade in one for the other that soon. Well, for someone with his past and experience to ever even reach the age range where guys like him were even considered for a permanent desk was not impossible but rather unlikely. People like that were sparse. Most notoriety in that department had been gained by Henrietta Lange, called Hetty, newly appointed Executive Assistant Director for Strategic Planning, Policy, Communication and Global Engagement. The lady was infamous for having her fingers in all possible cookie jars and as much as she was a feared operative, her new assignment put her skill set to the best use at the current time.

His own appointment to Executive Assistant Director of Global Operations in October of the last year had been a huge surprise but followed the general upheaval the agency underwent. Originally a shoe in for that position had a guy called Leon Vance. He had attended Naval War College and were to be commissioned as 2nd Lieutenant, but had been medically discharged before that. He was according to Owen's intel for all intents and purposes a career bureaucrat despite his experiences in the field.  
Vance had been discounted for the promotion due to problems with his jacket, that were still being sorted out with the involvement of SecNav personally. But it seems that by all accounts Vance was found to be on a bit too friendly terms with Mossad Director Eli David. Since some of the recent agency wide struggles started with the appointment of his daughter, Ziva, as liaison to the Washington DC field office, it was safe to assume, that his career would remain at an impasse for a while longer.

Now only being in his position for a little more than half a year Owen was bumped up once more. Right in the middle of an agency-wide polygraph testing by Homeland Security ordered by the CIA after a lot of red-tape walking and unraveling. Each and every affiliate to the agency with an NCIS security clearance had to undergo reevaluation due to the apparent security breach brought forth through a rather disappointing piece of novel trash called “Deep Six”. And the ever present problem of Mossad Officer Ziva David, currently sidelined in Dubai until her position could be safely terminated without injuring Israel's fragile sensitivities and siccing some more of their operatives onto US personnel. 

As if that was not enough to account for a bad case of Migraine, his recent debriefing by Deputy Director Jerome Craig had put his focus on the mess that once had been the premier team and pride of the agency and what has been left of it.  
Jerome had one his best to sort out chaos the reign of Jennifer Sheppard had wrought, but some of that was in fact not caused by her, but surely abetted her schemes. Which could partially excused by the results of the medical screening she had undergone to determine her responsibility for her actions and derelict of duty. A brain tumor could drive anyone insane, but it was now pretty evident that some of that had indeed lingered before she had become ill.

Her “investigations” into the life and deals of René Benoit aka La Grenouille or The Frog were of a purely personal nature somehow connected to her father's demise. The late Colonel Jasper Sheppard was believed to have committed suicide after investigations into alleged bribing by aforementioned arms dealer. Miss Sheppard however had gotten the idea, that he personally pulled the trigger.  
In trying to find incriminating evidence against La Grenouille she used her status and practical unlimited resources as director of the agency for her personal vendetta. Evidently going as far as sending one highly skilled and decorated Agent undercover without providing sufficient back-up. That is to say no back-up at all, not even taken him off his normal tasks and providing a deep cover. 

According to the files Owen had been handed from Jerome, former Senior Special Agent DiNozzo had not only maintained his regular schedule on the MCRT, which he had been forced to take over on short notice from his team leader Special Agent in Charge Gibbs due to injury and recovery, and the subsequent unrest of his subordinates, including one Officer Ziva David – which was again another can of worms – without showing any drop in results, but also managed to juggle the cover identity of Anthony DiNardo full-time.  
Said identity would have never stood any chance against a check. ID and car insurance in the name, job as professor at an online university – that was as deep as it had gone. Barely enough in Owen's eyes to send anyone undercover even on a short term 5 minute drug bust, not to speak of an operation of undetermined length. And that was not counting the various short ops he had run for recon, where he had had already had come in contact with some of the players.

If he didn't know better, he would have thought Agent DiNozzo suicidal. But his jacket prior to that clusterfuck was indicating nothing of that sort and him taking the immediate promotion to team leader at their location in Rota, Spain after the return of Senior Agent Gibbs, was a clear sign that he had acted under duress. 

Owen was impressed by this young agent. He had a keen eye for undercover operatives due to the nature of his previous duties and his own experiences in the field. As such he understood what other would have misinterpreted.  
DiNozzo's habit of changing jobs while being on the police force added together with a huge media coverage of a mob boss take-down in Philadelphia incidentally at the same time as his relocation to Baltimore, as well a very well-maintained inactive undercover persona in the eyes only section of his file made the young Italian-American out to be a force to be reckoned with.  
The investigations in Probationary Agent Timothy McGee's misconduct has shown DiNozzo as a very skilled superior adapt at training up new agents by adapting to their emotional and social needs at the time. A skill utterly lacking in Special Agent in Charge Gibbs.

Gibbs was an inter-agency legend. The retired Gunnery Sergeant and Marine Reservist was a member of NCIs – and its predecessor NIS – since 1992 which made him one of the most senior agents still in the field with 15 years on the jacket. Most got onto the administrative side of things after about 10 years.  
He trained under the not less infamous Mike Franks, who luckily in Owen's opinion had been retired for a while now. It seems as had Gibbs modeled himself very much after him. Scruff, gruff and an utter bastard. Impatient with subordinates Gibbs was known to make Probationary Agents and TADs cry and run for the hills. Many a career was cut short after a short stint on Gibbs's team.  
The longest anyone had ever lasted had been Agent Stan Burley, who had gained an ulcer under Gibbs' tutelage and requested a transfer to Agent Afloat after hitting the 5 year mark. But unlike Agent DiNozzo, whose reign as Gibbs' Second fell just a couple months short – not counting the hiatus of the older agent – Burley had never been entrusted the position of Supervisionary Agent by his immediate superior in his absence.  
Gibbs investigative skills were solid, while his talents in interrogation were unmatched. He also had different undercover operations under his belt and was unparallelled in his marksmanship. A fact that irked Owen somewhat, since both were trained USMC scout snipers.

After stints in the San Diego Field Office and undercover in Europe, Gibbs had been assigned his own MCRT in Washington DC and had maintained at least a solid 85% solve rate ever since, no matter the state of the team at the time. It had risen to 92% once Agent DiNozzo had been added and had declined back to the former percentage after his transferal.  
A lot of this was accredited to the infamous Gibbs' gut. Something that sometimes tended to run roughshod over regulations and caused a nice assortment of marks in the agent's file. But he got results the agency so desperately needed to maintain their small budget and never actually broke laws.  
Former Director Tom Morrow, now with Homeland Security, had added a cautious note into the file to always keep a close eye on Gibbs and the wet bar well stocked.

Seemed like Owen had got his work cut out for him with this one. But he knew enough of the sort. Operatives all tended to have the same mindset, which more often than not saved their lives.  
His only real concern about that task was the still relative fresh disruption of the MCRT. 

From the original four members, as unusual small as it had been, was only Gibbs left. DiNozzo was flourishing in Rota, McGee had been re-trained and reassigned to Cyber Crimes where he might be eligible for promotion back to Junior Agent in about a year, should he not fall back to previous behavior which would result in immediate termination, and Officer David was still a nuisance for the agency and stationed as a liaison in Dubai.

Assigned to Gibbs at this time were three seasoned Agents on a temporal basis. Each of them were in between assignments for supervisory positions around the globe and not easy to be scared away. Them being TADs made it even easier for them to endure their respective tenures.  
It fell to Owen to figure out a permanent solution. He would have to speak to the man himself to get a better read on him, but he was made aware by Jerome that one of Gibbs' demands was to quote "Bring my Second back ASAP" unquote. Obviously Gibbs had truly realized recently what he had lost in his former Senior Field Agent.  
An off the record inquiry with Agent DiNozzo on that matter had only brought forth, that he had moved on. Officially there never even had been talks of course. Jerome, and Owen could follow that line, hadn't wanted to set a precedent of demoting a Special Agent in Charge just because of the temper tantrums of his former superior. DiNozzo had earned his position and that was that. Gibbs would have to deal or leave.

Newly appointed Director of the NCIS Owen Granger hoped that remained the only turbulence at the start of his position. But he wasn't counting his eggs just yet.

**Author's Note:**

> 1) Yeah, I had a brainwave and you get the third installment within two days!
> 
> 2) I know that the TV series once stated that sometime in 2002 Tony still was with Baltimore PD Homicide Division and worked a case there, but he also has had his 2 year anniversary at NCIS in s01 e05 “The Curse”. Since I assume the timelines of the episodes to be somewhat aligned with their airdates, in my version of canon Tony came to NCIS sometime in October/November 2001 right after the events of “Baltimore” (s08e22) – which somehow also explains why the MCRT was down to consist solely off Gibbs at the time. Everyone was busy to figure out how to deal with the aftermath of 9/11.  
> (Gibbs timeline never made much sense for me anyway, that with managing to marry three times inbetween of 1992 and 2001, being Mike Franks probie until his retirement in 1996, being undercover in Europe and working in Moscow for at least a year – marriage number three with Stephanie taking place there mostly – and still having had an investigative team stateside for at least five years with Burley as Second.)
> 
> 3) I tried to stay as true to the hierarchy of the real NCIS as I could, since the hierarchy shown on the show was simply not sufficient enough to make this thing work. Consider me utterly confused due to my research.
> 
> 4) I already have an idea for the next installment, but this mental mess of mine really will take some time to write out.


End file.
